Electronic components generate waste heat when in use. This heat energy must be removed to prevent overheating and subsequent malfunction. Computer systems typically include a number of such components, or waste heat sources, that include, but are not limited to, printed circuit boards, mass storage devices, power supplies, and processors. For example, one personal computer system may generate 100 watts to 150 watts of waste heat and some larger computers with multiple processors may generate 250 watts of waste heat. Some computer systems include a plurality of such larger, multiple-processor computers that are configured into rack-mounted components, and then are subsequently positioned within a rack system. Some rack systems include 40 such rack-mounted components and such rack systems will therefore generate as much as 10 kilowatts of waste heat. Moreover, some data centers include a plurality of such rack systems.
In some datacenters multiple air handlers and/or coolers of different types are used to supply cool air to rack systems in a room of a data center to remove waste heat from the rack systems. In some such data centers, the air handling devices and/or coolers are commonly controlled such that the room is treated as a homogenous unit. The air handlers and/or coolers respond in unison to thermal changes in the room. Such an arrangement may lead to inefficiencies such as providing excess cooling to portions of a data center room that require less cooling than other portions of the data center room. Also, such configurations may lead to inefficiencies due to a lack of coordination between the air handlers, coolers, and other auxiliary systems that support the air handers and coolers. In another example, in the case of a failure of one of the air handlers or coolers in such systems, the systems may not be able to properly adapt to the failed air hander or cooler. This may result in providing insufficient cooling to rack systems in the room of the data center.
In some data centers, computational capacity available for use by a cooling system controller may be limited. For example, in some data centers a cooling system controller may be implemented on a simple process logic controller with minimal computational capacity.
The various embodiments described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. Specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.